One lone bird flies back to its home range on the other side of a volcano. Seems straightforward enough. Animals making their way back home after an arduous journey are typically feel-good stories that are sometimes made into movies. Homeward Bound comes to immediate mind. But in this case, it highlights the plight of an entire species with a very uncertain future.
We must bear in mind why this bird, designated MAPA1, had to make that extraordinary journey in the first place. Kiwikiu or Maui Parrotbill (Pseudonestor xanthrophrys) are one of the spectacular Hawaiian Honeycreepers. Once found throughout Maui and Moloka`i, their numbers declined precipitously in the face of the human induced changes that occurred throughout Hawai`i. The last wild population is found in a tiny section of remote rainforests on the northeast slopes of Haleakala.
It’s thought that while these northeastern rainforests are their last refuge, they are actually suboptimal habitat for Kiwikiu. So effort was made to restore native forests on the leeward slopes of Haleakala in hopes to start a second population of Kiwikiu in more productive habitat. It would also be an insurance against stochastic events that could rapidly cause decline in a single location.
Unfortunately, the affects of avian diseases were seen far sooner than anticipated. A small cohort of birds, including MAPA1, were captured from that last refugia, given health checks, and spent time in specially built aviaries to help them acclimatize to their new leeward home. Soon after release however, they all disappeared, thought to be felled by avian malaria.
So it came to everyone’s surprise that after a 2 year absence, one of those original birds, MAPA1, was sighted again in that reforested area. But the biggest surprise was yet to come as that same bird that survived the original release made its way back to its original rainforest home. He was also seen with a female; there is a chance that he sired a brood this past breeding season.
So that is MAPA1’s story in a nutshell, a stubborn indefatigable Kiwikiu that has survived all odds. The thing is, his species really needs stubborn individuals like himself at this point. For right now, the movie that would be made of his story wouldn’t been something like Homeward Bound, it would be more like Last of Us. We normally think of barren, nuclear fallout wastelands as the setting for a post-apocalyptic movie but for many of Hawai`i’s birds, gorgeous productive forests are exactly that barren wasteland. All because of the extremely consequential effects mosquitoes have wrought on the landscape.
It is still a very tenuous situation. While it is a nice beacon of hope in a sea of bad news for native birds, it is still a single beacon that could easily be snuffed out. While I can’t be thankful enough that there are dedicated individuals out there, giving their all to give these birds a fighting chance, it’s also why I fight so hard now with common native species. I want to do what I can so they don’t have to rely on stubborn individuals like MAPA1 to ensure their survival.
To learn more of his story please check out the links here and here
